Participants in the latest Lubar Entrepreneurship Center Pop Up on Systems Thinking, cohosted with the Institute for Systems Change and Peacebuilding, learned about Systems Thinking and how bias influences the exploration of solutions to problems.

Systems Thinking is a unique, holistic way of approaching problems and issues. This approach to problems is rooted in social innovation and sustainability and requires empathy and an intimate understanding (or deep exploration) of the problem space. To help explore the impact and use of Systems Thinking participants heard from students in the Teens Grow Greens program, and students of the Masters of Sustainable Peacebuilding program at UWM. Teens Grow Greens program students shared how they apply a Systems Thinking approach to their apprenticeship program, and how this approach shapes and helps those involved. The Masters of Sustainable Peacebuilding students shared their experiences from their work peacebuilding in South and Central America, and helped to run the virtual pop up.

Some Key Take-Aways:

• • Systems feed each other.
    • “Energy and ecological systems rely on the individual, on human development, and the individual (and human development) relies on energy and ecological systems.”
  • Take time to think outside the box.
  • Only by exhaustively exploring until you have an intimate understanding of the problem can you begin to solve it.
    • “Keep digging deeper and deeper until you hit something solid, it’s worth it.”
  • The best business is a system.
  • Let the data inform the root cause.
  • Don’t come in as a hero, come in with humility as part of the community.
    • “’Community’ is the people who show up and get involved.”

Thank you to all who participated and our cohosts – the Institute for Systems Change and Peacebuilding, Teens Grow Greens, and the students from the Masters of Sustainable Peacebuilding program at UWM.

Interested in learning more?
Learn more about Systems Thinking by clicking here.
Check out the Institute for Systems Change and Peacebuilding here.
Learn more about Teens Grow Greens here.
Check out the Masters of Sustainable Peacebuilding program here.